Swallowed Trust
by AllBlueChaser
Summary: Another fill for the Sanji/Zoro kinkmeme. Zoro & Sanji in a Sanji & Zeff starvation sorta situation.  Sanji goes for the butcher knife this again to play a different role. Sanji/Zoro.


It had been well more than a month.

Sanji wasn't making too much of an effort to count this time (he had a feeling Zoro would do that honor for him anyway) but he did place another scratch into the rock roughly every two days so he could hazard a decent guess for rationing purposes. It meant he knew he hadn't seen his frustrating lover in a long ass time; not since the beginning when he had sent him to the other side of the small rocky island with the large bento, the orders on how and when to eat its contents, and the demand to look out for ships. He pressed two now bony fingers to dry, chapped lips and closed his eyes in memory.

He missed him but he knew Zoro would survive. Sanji had complete confidence that Nami had understood his frantic call from the Den Den Mushi before their ship was lost. She would come...eventually. The distance would be far enough to be of some concern but he and Zoro had complete trust in each other and that meant the swordsman would get out of this alive to protect the crew and help Luffy once more.

Sanji trusted Zoro's stamina, constitution, strength, and discipline to survive the elements and follow the strict rationing instructions. Trusted him to keep a keen eye on the water for the sign of a ship.

Zoro trusted the cooks explanation of rationing. Trusted Sanji when he had pulled two boxes from the bag, grabbed before going over board, and said that the long thinner case would provide more protein while the thick box had slightly more empty calories. More rice, more starch, dessert. Sanji offered to split them up equally but Zoro just scoffed and took the taller box, saying the scrawny cook would need more to survive than himself. His loud protests had fallen on deaf ears as Zoro clutched the box to his chest and after a final kiss headed to the other side of the island.

Just as he had known Zoro would.

Sanji reached for the long thin box Zoro had been so generous to leave him with. It was time for his own meal. He unlatched the case and opened it to reveal his treasure. His professional knife set. There had never been a second lunch box of course and he really couldn't help but give a small smile at how easily his Marimo had fallen for the misdirection he had set up on the fly.

He carefully pulled the butcher knife from the case and looked down toward his bandaged left foot. He had gone through all his toes there, again he considered. Would it be better to go after the toes of his other foot first or start on the flesh clinging to the ball of that foot. It came down to risk of infection...that was surely why Zeff had taken it from one foot...but there was a hopeful niggling in the corner of his mind that would rather have two feet without out toes than gaining a matching leg to the shit geezer. He did have a lighter to sterilize the blade and a basic first aid kit...more than the old man had. He could chance it and risk losing both.

Fuck. Who was he kidding? He wasn't going to make it anyway. All or nothing then. He moved the knife over to his skinny but pristine right foot...his vision suddenly blurred as he felt himself get yanked back, vertigo taking over he let himself fall to the ground.

Zoro cursed first at the handful of dull yellow hair he'd pulled out all to easily and than again to the curly brow flat out on his back, half focused eyes, more skeleton than man.

"Oi! Cook! Stay with me!" His glance to confirm he had arrived before the man could take off anything with the knife garnered relief for only a minute until he spotted the red tinged bandages of the other foot. He cursed again and smacked the cooks face to clarify the mans vision. "You damn idiot! What have you done to yourself!"

Sanji's visible eye flashed wide, he had intended to shout but to his dismay it came out as a pained cracked whisper.

"Zoro, what are you doing here!" The idiot! He could be missing a ship!

The swordsman looked at him a moment and then looked down at the chef's not bento, then back. Sanji just shrugged, denying nothing. With a frustrated sigh, the swordsman disappeared from Sanji's vision and the next thing he knew, he was having a dried out rice ball shoved down his throat. He immediately began to choke in protest.

"Chew and swallow, shit cook! You know how this works."

The cook did as he was told and sat up perfectly livid when he was finished.

"You need to save it..."

"Asshole...I can't believe you pulled this shit with me! I'm going to kick your ass so hard for this later." He promised as he pulled the busted Den Den Mushi from his pocket and set it firmly on the blond's lap. Before he could question he noticed the eyes were open and lips flapping.

"Zoro! Did you find Sanji-kun?" The feminine voice came from the tan snail's lips.

"Yeah...although the moron is pretty bad shape. Brook probably looks healthier. He'll need Chopper." He thought a second and cast another look at the misshapen bandaged foot. "And maybe Franky."

"Franky?" The navigator asked in confusion.

"Nam...Nami-san?" He looked to Zoro in shock. "But how?" Zoro smiled and placed a hand on Sanji's back to hold him steady.

"It dried out weeks ago but wouldn't connect. It did yesterday though. I guess it needs time to recalibrate or come out of hibernation or something after a plunge into the ocean. That's what Usopp said anyway." Zoro shrugged, not sure if it was the truth or not and frankly not giving a damn either way.

"Usopp?"

"Oi! Hereee!" Usopp's voice came through the transponder snail then. "Where are you guys? I can't see Zoro anymore!" There was some exchanged mumbled conversation on their end before the Den Den Mushi went suddenly silent after a loud noise and crash.

Zoro grinned and kissed the cook's shocked forehead before whispering into the blond's ear.

"Don't worry, they could see me through the binoculars. I couldn't see them but they'll be here in a few hours."

Suddenly there was loud whistling noise and they could only look up in shock as the Thousand Sunny whizzed overhead across the sky above the small island and splashed down into the sea a few hundred meters away.

"Or maybe sooner." It was easy to forget about the Coup de Burst sometimes.

Sanji grinned for the first time since before the shipwreck and leaned against the swordsman. He knew the green haired man would survive.

That Sanji did too...it was an unexpected gift. One he was going to enjoy immediately by being held by the swordsman and then later by a trip to a hopefully well stocked galley.


End file.
